4 A Really, Really Bad Situation

4. A REALLY, REALLY BAD SITUATION 'Oh for Thor's sake, oh for Thor's sake…' cried Hiccup, looking desperately around him. But there was no sign of Camicazi. Just the silent mists, and below them… why, below them, there could be ANYTHING down there in the water. It could be Darkbreathers, that liked to drag their victims underneath the water and suck out their blood. It could be Sharkworms, that killed with their foot-long fangs, or grabbed a take-away of a dangling limb, and swam on. 'Where is she? Where is she? Where is she?' Fishlegs kept repeating, as if Hiccup knew the answer. One terrified minute passed. And then Fishlegs, too, screamed, and was dragged under, out of Hiccup's arms.

'Fishlegs!' yelled Hiccup. Hiccup was alone in the cold grey ocean. Never had his poor flapping feet felt so vulnerable. There was nothing he could do. He could not run, or fly away (although Toothless was valiantly trying to haul him out of the water by the back of his waistcoat). And then he felt the first searching nibble on his ankle… Hiccup screamed, and tried, clumsily, to splash forward. But whatever-it-was took a firm grip on his leg and pulled him underwater. Hiccup just had time to take a big lungful of air. The water around him turned swiftly from green to grey to black as he was dragged down into the sea. So this is it… thought Hiccup… as he went deeper still… This is what it is like to die… Just as his lungs were about to burst, he was pulled back the other way up, the water turned from black to grey to green to white again, and he was hauled out of the sea and into the sky. Hiccup was being carried upside-down through the air by a gigantic dragon, with a wingspan of about seven metres.

All around him, with great rasping shrieks, a whole pack of the creatures was leaping out of the sea, shooting upwards as if they were arrows being shot out of Neptune's bow. The dragon holding Hiccup was flying so low that Hiccup's fingers were scraping the surface of the water. It swung him upwards as if he were a piece of mackerel and let him go, sending Hiccup cartwheeling through the air, and as he was JUST about to hit the sea, another dragon dived and caught him, this time by the arms. Out of the corner of his eye, Hiccup could see Fishlegs and Camicazi being carried by other dragons in the pack in a similar fashion. He tipped his head upwards to try and see what had captured them. It was Raptortongues.

Raptortongues are most peculiar. They look like perfectly normal dragons that have been accidentally stepped on by a giant, and squashed flat as a pancake. They are often used by Vikings to spy on enemy Tribes, because they can fly low and swift and silent over enemy territory without anyone realising they are there.

该页暂无翻译

该页暂无翻译